White Flag
by kestraTroi7
Summary: 'I'm in love, and always will be.' I cannot believe what happened in the finale for Rufly, so here is their ending, the way they deserve it to be. It's not the finale rewritten, but rather, what's going on behind what we saw.
1. Chapter 1

**A/N: I cannot believe what happened in that finale. I never even considered that Rufus and Lily would not have their perfect ending… just seemed absurd. Rufus and random? Lily and William?**

**Here is the ending from me. I don't like to rewrite the ending, so this meshes in to the finale. It's not fantastic but it is a better ending for Rufly. This is what I prefer to think happened. I just don't know why it would have been so hard to have Rufus and Lily together at the wedding at the end.**

**Please read and review, I've never written for Gossip Girl before. **

The reception after Dan and Serena's wedding was a grand affair. Anyone, everyone the couple knew was there. On Dan's side that meant a couple of people associated with his books and his family. On Serena's side, that, however meant half the city, all of whom she greeted with a radiant smile.

Rufus watched on from afar as Serena made the rounds with Dan, who had shuffled awkwardly behind her at first, before slowly but surely charming the guests himself as they moved on through the rooms. He had become part of her world absolutely, and in the way that he wanted to be.

Jenny tapped his shoulder. "Hey, dad."

"Hey, Jenny. We haven't had much chance to talk have we?"

"Not really. How've you been, dad?"

Rufus shrugged. "Me? I'm good. I'm happy with Lisa. We're having fun."

Jenny rolled her eyes. "You and Lisa...? Really, dad?"

Rufus narrowed his eyes at his daughter. "Never mind me. Today is about your brother and Serena."

There was a lengthy pause as they watched the newlyweds talking to Eric and Jonathon, who threw his head back laughing at something Serena had said.

"Can you believe they got married already?" Jenny said, shaking her head.

"Yeah, I can believe it. They were always meant to be together, everyone knew they were supposed to be, like… Chuck and Blair were, or…"

"Like you and Lily, dad?" Jenny caught the look on his face and rolled her eyes again before sauntering away. Rufus thought he could just make out her muttering under her breath something about, "whatever" and "obvious."

It had been five years since his marriage with Lily had been dissolved, through his own unintentional doing so. His brief fling with Ivy had made him realize more than anything how he missed her by his side. While there were things about her that drove him crazy, the flood of social gatherings that could not be missed, and the need for everything to be perfect on the outside before the inside, he loved her. Undeniably, unquestionably, he loved her.

In those five years, he had seen her back with William after Bart's death. She looked… not quite happy, but content with her lot. He was powerful, wealthy, and everything that Cece would have wanted for her, and had taught her to want for herself. And yet… those many times they had bumped in to each other as a result of being parents of the golden couple of Dan and Serena, when they had talked, it was hard for him not to want to get closer to her. To want to be with her.

He remembered their conversation at the launch party of Dan's fourth book two years ago. They had stole a moment together by the staircase.

"_Hey, Lil."_

"_Rufus. I guess I shouldn't be surprised to see you here. Daniel's doing very well for himself, isn't he?"_

"_He is. I'm very proud of him."_

_They had looked at each other then, wistfully, but at the same time with an intensity laced with passion that couldn't be acted on._

"_How've you been, Lil?"_

"_Me? Oh, you know. I'm keeping busy. Little Henry is the most precious child, have you met him?"_

"_No, I haven't. I've seen pictures."_

_They lapsed in to a silence again, which dragged._

"_I miss you, Rufus."_

"_Me too. We should talk sometime, you know, drinks, like the good old days."_

"_Oh, Rufus." Lily laughed, but then she became quiet and patted his arm. "I don't know if we should."_

"_Is it William?"_

"_Is what William?"_

"_Come on, Lily."_

"_He may have gotten unpleasantly aggravated when I suggested that we invite you over for Thanksgiving last year."_

_Rufus took a deep breath. "Are you happy?"_

"_I don't know. I think I am. I don't feel like I did when I was with you… like I was free and able to do anything… But I feel good. I think that's how I'm supposed to feel, isn't it?"  
_

"_Yeah…"_

_He made to walk away, saying, "I'll see you around, Lil," before she cut him off._

"_Rufus? Let's get together some time. How about lunch?"_

_He paused, a smile spreading over his face. "I'd like that."_

"_Even if we can't be together, that's no reason for us not to see each other. I don't care what William says."_

_Why shouldn't they be together though? _

The thought brought him back to the present, and the reason they had resolved not to see each other. Dan and Serena were so happy together, and they couldn't complicate that by getting in the way of it. And at the time, it felt like they'd played out their relationship to its limits.

They'd talked, though. Week after week, meeting at restaurants and at the Brooklyn apartment he had never been able to sell. They'd talked mindlessly at first about Dan and Serena and Jenny and Eric and what they were up to. It took them a few weeks before they were able to open up enough to talk about something more. It had been strange to adjust to being close again after being apart. But they'd gotten used to it.

He'd moved on, with Lisa. She was nice, artsy, a musician like him, and they'd toured together, happily for a few months, before their relationship had become a steadier thing, she stayed the night once in a while, they went out for dinner… Normal couple stuff, and that felt good. But it lacked passion… It lacked the spark.

And so, while he wasn't proud of it, he'd seen Lily on the side. Lunches, drinks, walks in the park. They didn't act on it… they didn't act in a way that would make them ashamed of the people they'd become, longing for each other's company. They weren't going to cheat. They were just having fun. As friends, confidantes, it didn't have the pressure that they'd always had. They could just let loose and free.

He smiled as he remembered that night the last year when Lily had let her hair down for the first time, literally, in what seemed like months. They had danced in the bar. He remembered the song. _White Flag _by Dido. The lyrics: "There will be no white flag above my door. I'm in love and always will be." They'd leaned closer together, so close that he could smell her hair, and they'd almost touched lips. He'd pulled away at the last moment, and she had looked away and they'd made nothing of it.

The next day however, brought what he'd simultaneously dreaded and longed for. Lisa held him back after breakfast – trusty waffles – and had talked to him. Painfully, slowly, but honestly. _We're drifting apart_, she'd said. _Why? Why aren't we moving forward. _It'd been hard for him to say anything. They couldn't say anything. But he'd wanted to for so long. And at that moment he wasn't able to stop himself. Lisa knew about his meeting with Lily, but she also knew of her being with William, so when Rufus said they'd simply met as friends, Lisa had thought nothing of it. So he felt he owed it to her to explain. To tell the story of them. Their love, all the way back to the days when she'd followed Lincoln Hawk around in a miniskirt at sixteen. _Is she who you wrote all your songs for? _she had asked. _Every time you walk away or run away you take a piece of me with you there. Is that for her? _Lisa didn't hate him for it, surprisingly. They were solid enough friends before they'd become something more that she wasn't mad. There was an uneasy period between them, but it thawed quickly enough that they were able to move on and continue to collaborate musically.

Lily was another story. She'd avoided him for two weeks, booking every social gathering to which she could gain entry, ignoring his texts. When he'd finally caught up with her it was outside her cab. He refused to budge and she'd told the driver to go on without her, that she'd hail the next one.

"_What, Rufus? I'm really quite busy."_

"_Lil, I want to be with you."_

"_Rufus. You can't be serious. We've talked about this before." She looked at him, as though trying to gather whether he was being honest._

"_We have. But we… are _right _together. When I'm with you, I feel like I'm home… I'm at the right place at the right time. Like I belong somewhere. Tell me you don't feel the same way, Lil, and I'll leave you alone."_

"_But… Rufus, what about Lisa… and William?" She had spluttered, shaken by his sincerity._

"_Lisa and I are just friends. Seriously. And you and William? Really, Lil? I mean, William, the man that gave you fake cancer just to get you back… the guy that left you to raise Serena and Eric by yourself? Do you actually feel anything for him?" It actually made him angry, outraged, that she could stay with such a man._

"_Oh, Rufus. I… don't know. I'm telling you again. I can't just leave."_

"_Why not? Lil, do this for us."_

"_I want to, Rufus. But I can't. What about Daniel and Serena? They're getting married in a few months. We can't spring this on them. Maybe Daniel would understand, but Serena would think it was me putting my own interest before her own. Again."_

"_She would understand… They're old enough and mature enough, both of them, to get it now."_

_She'd stepped closer to him, and grabbed his hand then and pulled him in to a deserted sidewalk._

"_Do you really still want to be with me? After everything horrible I've done?"  
_

_He took a deep breath. "Look, Lil. At the time, I said some pretty harsh things too. And remember Ivy? I've hardly been a saint. We can put it behind us, we can move on."_

_Lily leaned up to him and kissed him on the cheek. "Rufus. I don't know how to do this. Tell me what to do."_

"_Do you want to be with me?"_

"_More than anything I want to be with you again." She smiled and he felt his heart soar. _Every time you walk away or run away you take a bit of me with you there… Come back to me… Smile and you make my life complete…

"_I think we'd better wait till after the wedding to tell Dan and Serena."_

_Lily laughed without the smile in her eyes. "Oh, yeah. Serena would never forgive me for dropping a bomb like that mere months before her wedding."_

_Rufus raised his eyes at 'months', but frowned. "And there's William."_

Yes, there was still William indeed.

He looked around, noticing Blair and Chuck with Henry on his lap, talking conspiratorially to Jack and Georgina… the vile beings. Jenny was over with Eric now, getting a drink and pointing out handsome freshmen from his class. William was by himself in the corner, talking in a hushed tone in to his phone. Rufus had never liked him, he was a shady bastard. His actions over the years had only contributed to this view. Lily was… where was she? He craned his neck to try to catch her through the crowd but she wasn't in the room. She must have gone out to –

"Hello, Rufus."

**Good place to pause, I think. One more chapter, almost done now. **

**Merry Christmas!**

**Also, was Rufus' random called Lisa?**

**Please review!**


	2. Chapter 2

**Second chapter. I hope you like it!**

"Hello, Rufus."

He spun around quickly and saw her behind him, she looked beautiful in lavender purple, a corsage of lilies on her wrist. They'd talked before the wedding, of course, a friendly kiss aching to be more… And he'd gone to sit by Lisa, who had agreed to be his date, rather playfully now that she knew his real intentions. Lily hadn't said anything to William yet, but she wanted Serena's wedding to be everything she'd dreamed it to be. Her parents both getting along included.

"Hi Lily. You look… wonderful."

"Oh, thank you. Can you believe that Serena and Daniel just got married?"

"Jenny just said the same thing… I don't think it's so hard to believe, considering."

"Considering that I, the simple Brooklyn man, am going to be with you, Lily… you know, I'm not sure which last name to use... Rhodes, Van der Woodsen, Bass… Humphrey."

Lily bit her lip coyly. "Maybe we should go with the one that's going to stick."

"Humphrey?"

Lily nodded. "What else? Though I think we'll stick with Van der Woodsen for the day." She grabbed his hand and led him back to the ground. "Now we should go back and mingle or people will start to wonder…"

GG ******* GG ******* GG ******* GG ******* GG ******* GG ******* GG

"_I will go down with this ship_

_And I won't put my hands up and surrender_

_There will be no white flag above my door_

_I'm in love and always will be."_

"It's our song." Rufus said as he took Lily's hand in the car. He'd stuck the CD in on purpose to give them strength as they drove to Brooklyn. Now, as they pulled up, and the song faded away, they were back to reality.

"I thought our song was Everytime," Lily murmured absent mindedly. She kissed him on the cheek as a tear slid down her own.

The two of them had spoken to William minutes ago. He had almost comically frozen before he started to talk in a scarily calm and quiet tone about the lengths he had gone to win back her affections… Rufus had almost wished he had been able to tape record it to send the bastard to jail as it contained enough for an easy conviction, before he noticed the tears misting in Lily's eyes.

"_What about Serena and Eric? What are you going to tell them? That you're a slut who can't keep your hands off another man. How long have you been cheating on me?"_

"_I haven't been cheating on you, William."_

"_You expect me to believe that? You fathered a child with that man."_

"_Don't talk to her like that."_

"_You're one to talk. You let her be married to a person like Bart Bass and six other men."_

"_I respect her and her choices, more than I can say for you."_

"_Let's go, Rufus. I have nothing more to say to him."_

"_I do. He is disrespectful, cowardly and an unreliable father."_

"_Please, Rufus. Let's go."_

As he watched her now in the car, he remembered just three days ago when they'd been at the wedding, full of hope of what they would be.

"Is that really who I've been, Rufus? The woman whose been married more times than people can count, without ever truly being in love."

"Lil, listen to me. There were moments when I envied you… How you could move on with all these different men. I kind of admired it. It was like you wanted to give it a shot to make it all better. I married Allison, and I was stuck in this grey area of wanting to leave but not knowing how to ever do it."

Lily looked down at her hands, ring less for the longest time yet. "I'm sorry, Rufus."

"For what?" Confused, he tried to read her face.

"Well, if I were in your position I would have thought that I was crazy."

"It's okay."

"You say that a lot."

"That's because this time I want to start new. We're going to leave our old problems behind. We're going to do this right, because this is right."

She fell in to his embrace and they held each other for a long moment. He was warm and perfect and _kind _and he was Rufus Humphrey. Her love.

In his arms she was just Lily. The girl he'd followed with his eyes the first time he'd performed, thinking he'd never see her again. She was the love of his life. She was the person he sung for. The person he lived to see every day.

"Besides…" He whispered. "I'd like to think one of those weddings was out of love."

She stroked his cheek. "Of course. I loved you. I remember that was the wedding I was most nervous about out of all of them because… well, I suppose I knew that I had the most to lose."

"Oh, Lil." His voice broke. He had sometimes, in the bitter moments when he was with Ivy and Lily had been with Bart again, wondered if she had even cared.

"It's true, Rufus. And I want to give it one more shot. And I think it's the right time now."

"Wait... Lily, are you proposing to me?"

Lily bit her lip. "I think I've been on the receiving end of that question too many times. I think I just say yes by default now… But this time I want to be the one that proposes. I want to marry you, Rufus… Will you marry me? Again?" She added the second question more quietly, before taking in her surroundings and cringing. "And yes, the irony of my having proposed to you within a dusty little car in Brooklyn without even having a ring has occurred to me."

"Dusty little car?" He feigned offence, purposefully agitating her by lack of response.

"_Rufus!"_

"Yes. I say yes. _Of course _I say yes. I love you, Lil."

"I love you."

He leaned over and kissed her. It wasn't like a kiss either of them had ever experienced, even with each other. It was deep and slow and tender. A reminder of all they had been through together and of their love, which had endured over many long years apart and together and of how here, now, they were ready to start their life together.

Rufus broke away for a moment. "I have a ring."

"What? But I proposed!" She sounded almost petulant, like she had finally managed to do something that she had wanted to do for a long time. Rufus loved her all the more for the expression she wore on her face.

"You beat me to it."

He slid a simple silver band on her finger. "I know it's not fancy, but I couldn't wait any longer. After all these years – "

She silenced him with a kiss.

"I don't need fancy. I just need you."

**The end.**

**It feels a bit overly 'fluffy' to me, really, but I wanted to give them an ending that they deserved that they wouldn't get in the show. They had hardly any screen time in the sixth season together. If there weren't a lot of random characters like Sage, I think they could have had a wonderful build up to a wonderful conclusion for Rufly as well as other couples… at least some closure for other couples that people were rooting for even if they didn't happen. We got next to nothing. Thus the story. I hope you liked it :) Review? Please!**

**Also, I have a song, **_**White Flag **_**by Dido referenced, and I think it's perfect for them, I recommend it.**

**Epilogue:**

Rufus: "Dan, Serena, we have something to tell you…"

Dan: "What, dad? We don't need anything from you guys. We're happy, we got a place…"

Lily: "No, it's not really about you, Daniel… It's about… us."

Pause.

Serena: "No way, mom. No way. You guys can't be back together."

Dan: "Serena, come on, we should hear them out."

Lily: "Thank you, Daniel. We are sure about this. We love each other, and we're not trying to affect your relationship in any way."

Serena: "Oh my god, mom! How can you do this, we got _married!"_

Lily: "Serena, I'm sorry."

Pause.

Rufus: "We're engaged…"

Serena: "Wait, what? Again? I can't believe this."

Dan: "So now we're, what? Married and going to be step-siblings? Thanks, dad."

Serena storms off.

Lily (quietly): "She'll calm down, won't she?"

Dan: "Oh, I don't know. I'm pretty annoyed at you guys myself."

Lily: "I'm sorry, Daniel. I know this isn't what you wanted."

Dan (sighing): "I'm happy for you… Even if I'm annoyed for myself. My dad was always happiest when he was with you."

Rufus: "Thanks son."

Dan: "I think I'd better go to my wife now, make sure she isn't tearing apart the house now."

Lily: "Good luck…"

Dan: "Thanks. I'll need it for sure."

Dan leaves. Rufus and Lily kiss.

Rufus: "See, that wasn't so bad, was it."

Lily: "Hmmm… Easy for you to say. Your son probably isn't scheming with her best friend right about now trying to break us up."

_At that moment outside…_

Serena (on the phone): B, I need to see you, Chuck and Nate. Now! It's important. My mom and Rufus are back together…

Blair: Eww. What? Okay. See you in ten at the Empire. I'll call Nate.

**And so resumes the scheming.**


End file.
